It was the best of vacations.  It was the worst of vacations.  (my apologies to Dickens)

The time spent seeing the sites, hiking and camping has been the best.

The time spent dealing with theft and now auto problems has been the worst.  As you know we were broken into and all the camping stuff taken.  But little by little I am realizing there were other things stolen also- tripod for camera, Sumner’s nebulizer, and old, empty film canisters (to hold sand for a science project).  It’s just  frustrating to say, “Oh, get that out” and then you realize it’s not there.  Then yesterday we drove through the  Bighorn mountains in Montana on the way to Yellowstone.  Ok we’re a full day behind; we can make it up.  Then on the way down the mountains the brakes started smoking and a disgusting smell came from them.  We headed to the nearest town- Ten Sleep population 304.  No Sears.  I used the iphone to search for Sears locations.  The nearest Sears was in Billings, MT a mere 3 hour drive.  It was 8:30 at night- ok we can make it.  Arrived in Billings, MT at 11:15 to discover that there was not 1 hotel room within 150 miles.  The state fair had just started. Again we checked Sears locations with auto centers; the 2 nearest ones to Billings were Missioula, MT (340 miles NW) or Idaho Falls (too far to even calculate mileage).  So with a van that had a brake problem that we were, quite honestly, nervous about taking too far and no hotels in the area we found ourselves at 1AM pulling into a Cabela’s parking lot to sleep in the van.  (We had a lot of company,too Guess a lot of other folks also got into town not expecting such a crowd).

Sunday morning we had a good breakfast at Montana Grains and were at the Sears Auto Center at 10AM when they opened.  At first they said they couldn’t help us- 1 technician had been called up in the National Guard and 1 was out sick.  BUT they found a technician and within 2 hours we were out the door and on our way.  (Apparently the dealer had checked the brakes properly 2 weeks ago but had not reinstalled the dust covers (or failed to tell us that they were missing) which protect the rotor assembly from road debris).

But to recap what happened on the best of vacations…we took a small detour and stopped at Devil’s Tower National monument and hiked around it for a while.  Well hiking is what people usually do.  We scrambled over the boulders at the base.  Talk about fun!

Then we turned towards Yellowstone.  Drove to Buffalo, WY; on the way we saw our first Pronghorn antelope.  What a beautiful creature. We crossed Bighorn Mountains.  That was a spectacular drive.  At one point Rodger saw the back of a Bison-or so he thought.  I yelled, “pull over!”  The kids yelled, “Bison! Bison!”  Then we saw it from the front and we all said, “cow.” Oh did we laugh at ourselves!

Some final words of wisdom for taking an extended trip- especially off the beaten path.

1. take along extra cords or chargers.  Our phone charger got stepped on and we have REALLY needed the iphone capabilities to search for places.

2. call ahead to commerce or visitor centers to see if any major event is taking place.  The Sturgis (SD) Bike rally is this week and we have encountered 1000’s of bikers along the way and the national parks have been flooded with bikers.

3. One of the best things to have is a light-weight, warm coat.  REI has an excellent coat that compacts to almost nothing to save on space but is so warm.  Since it’s made for outdoorsy people it’s also water resistant and durable.  But in a plane or anywhere this coat would be a welcome addition to any trip, in my humble and completely unbiased opinion.

4. Keep a good attitude no matter what happens.  So things don’t happen the way you expected. So what?  Practice patience. Develop character.

BY the way since we are now way off schedule we have revamped our trip plans.  We cancelled all of the CA stops and will focus on the Yellowstone areas- including a day at the Tetons.  We’ll add Arches national park in UT and maybe a stop in the Painted Desert of AZ.  Unless we love Yellowstone so much that we decide to stay there longer or whatever.  We remain flexible.